In the #Navy…You Can Sail the Seven Sins

I beat (not disco, usually) the privacy drum a lot because many times, the invasion is subtle. I experienced it again with my new Droid. The way Google would like us to sync contacts is to – among other methods – use Google Sync, sending our private information to their cloud, then delivering it to the device. EarthLink tried to get at my contacts in a similar manner – by claiming I had to upload my address book in order to enable their custom spam filter.

My answer to both was the same – "Ain't gonna happen". My EarthLink issue is old news; as far as the Droid is concerned, with a little time and research, I was able to sync via USB directly from the database on my local PC.

It's all about control.

I'm quite well aware that some of you think I go overboard (no pun intended, based on today's headline), but read this story from the Washington Post about the increase in Navy commanding-officer firings – and how technology is literally destroying the ranks from the inside-out – then tell me I'm overreacting. I'm not going to pontificate. For those who don't read the article, I'll let the following two quotes do it for me:

From the reporter, describing part of his conversation with Admiral Gary Roughead (chief of naval operations): "He attributed the rise in part to the revolution in communications and technology, which has made it easier for sailors and their families to snoop on one another and then instantly spread the word — even from once-isolated ships at sea." (italics/bold added)

And from Adm. Roughead, himself: “The divide between our private and professional lives is essentially gone". (italics/bold added)